Note Card Party: Easter

It's time for one of my favorite Blog Land Parties:
Vee's Notecard Party.

We need to pick 4 photos that have been shown previously on our blog
that we think would make good notecards.

I decided to celebrate Spring and Easter.

The first three are from an Easter Tea I shared last year.

Rules of Chocolate Easter Eggs:

1. If you get melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating too slowly.

2. Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices, and strawberries all count as fruit,

so eat as many as you want.

3. Diet tip: Eat an Easter Egg before each meal.

It'll take the edge off your appetite, and that way you'll eat less.

4. If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer.

But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what is wrong with you? 

Wishing YOU well and much joy! Happy Spring!

Spring Tea

Spring is just around the corner.

I thought I'd share this lovely Tuscan English Fine China teacup with you.

I love all the flowers, the colors and the Spring look!

I added a Gerbera Daisy from the garden.

For tea drinkers Spring means that the tea plants are readying for the first harvest.

The first flush March into April for teas in China (I'm looking forward to Dragonwell).

India (Darjeeling and Assam), Nepal and Taiwan among other areas.

There has been drought in some areas 

and that will mean the harvest will be delayed and will not be as large.

It also means it's time for iced tea.

For me, I have iced tea year round, but for a lot of tea drinkers

Spring means get the ice out! 

"The grandfather plants and raises the tea bushes, 

the father harvests the tea,

and the son drinks it."

~Chinese Saying

Thank you to our tea party hosts:

Tea Time Tuesday

A Return To Loveliness
Friends Sharing Tea
Teacup Tuesday

Tuesday Cup'a Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a delightful cup of tea!

Sunlit Sunday: Surprise!

I'm sharing with Sunlit Sunday

 a surprise or two that I found in my garden yesterday.

What a surprise to find daffodils!

I first planted daffodils in Musashi's Garden in 1998 when we first moved in.

It was December and I planted them in a pot.

There were no flower beds, but I was determined to have some Spring color!

Over time the pots were emptied into the garden beds and I forgot all about the bulbs.

That brings us to this year and my surprise.

Mother Nature -- WOW!

**

I was looking out the back door when I saw this little guy flying by.

I grabbed my camera hoping he would stop someplace close.

He did.

I believe this is a little yellow Sulphur butterfly.

He didn't stay long -- zipped right off after I took the shot.

Good thing the glass was sort of clean!

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a very happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wishing you always-

Walls for the wind,

And a roof for the rain,

And tea beside the fire-

Laughter to cheer you,

And those you love near you,

And all that your heart 

might desire!

Five Random Things

I have Five Random Things for you today.

Sit back and relax!

I've been stash busting.

All of this yarn was left from the Christmas afghans I made two years ago.

I like lapghans and thought there was enough to make one for me.

Not bad!

It's just simple granny squares.
It is a little lop-sided, but then so am I.
It fits nicely!
I finished it just in time -- the days are getting longer and warmer!

**

One of my favorite things to do when the weather cooperates

is to walk into my Village and have breakfast or lunch. 

I was leaving the restaurant with my ice tea to go in one hand and a book

in the other when a very handsome man in a three piece suit walked into the restaurant.

He was tall -- basketball player kind of tall.

I am short -- as in getting older every year, shrinking, now under five feet tall.

Mutt and Jeff.

I said "Good Morning".

He said "Good Morning".

And then he was opening the door for me.

I said "thank you very much".

And he said "you are welcome very much".

Wow.
(I could have opened the door using the *back end* method.)

Now, I'm no spring chicken and I'll tell you ladies --

I appreciated a very handsome man with good manners.

His Mama taught him well!

I was smiling the rest of the day.

And, my baseball Owls won their game that evening.

***

Maybe it was the luck of the Irish or perhaps the Easter Bunny made an early visit.

 I won the Martha White giveaway on a Semi Homemade Mom.

Mina had to supervise as I unpacked the goodies.

The blue Martha White tote bag held all these goodies.

There's a t-shirt, an apron, muffin cups, a cupcake timer, 6 packages of

Martha White cornbread mix, spatulas, wooden spoons, hot pads, grocery lists, recipe holders.

Martha White has recipes on their website. 

It's a good thing that I LOVE cornbread! 

****

Since St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner,

here is a vintage reproduction postcard for you.

Many thanks to the lovely Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday each week.

*****

Lastly, I am reading

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

by Candice Millard.

It is not my usual kind of read -- it is not fluff!

I'm the first to say that my American history is not very good.

I remember very little of what I learned in school.

I knew Teddy Roosevelt was a president and some thing of a wild man.

This book is fascinating - a real look at his personality and an amazing tale of

exploration in the Amazon along the River of Doubt.

Candice Millard is an historian and a former writer and editor for National Geographic.

She's made the whole adventure come to life. 

I am half way through the book and had to take a break and come up for air! 

Wishing YOU well and much joy! 

Good Morning!

I Am Lost

I've gone to look for myself.

If I should return before I get back,

please ask me to wait.